Pa. state police exhume body of unidentified woman killed in Fayette County

Pennsylvania State Police this week exhumed the body of a woman killed in a Fayette County motor vehicle crash nearly 40 years ago, hoping to finally identify her through DNA.

The woman was killed May 2, 1986, in a tractor-trailer rollover in Springhill Township, about 15 miles south of Uniontown. She has never been identified despite media campaigns and tips from the public over the years.

Reports from the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System say the woman, a passenger in the truck, was between 30 and 45 years old at the time of her death. She was 5-foot-4 and weighed 170 pounds, with brown eyes and medium-length brown hair.

“There is a family out there somewhere that lost this young lady, and they’ve been wondering where she is for a long time,” Fayette County District Attorney Michael Aubele said. “It was worth every bit of effort.”

The case was selected to be reviewed after the Florida Institute of Forensic Anthropology and Applied Science received a grant dedicated to resolving cases involving unidentified human remains. A team from Florida traveled to Pennsylvania to assist state police and the Fayette County Coroner’s Office with the exhumation.

In 1986, police said the truck driver was headed from Sparrows Point, Md. to Richmond, Ky., and that he had no scheduled stops.

The woman was not with the driver when he left Sparrows Point, leading investigators to believe she was hitchhiking.

While the deceased driver was identified as Joseph D. Richards of Eastanollee, Ga., the woman had no identification on her, police said.

Investigators found her body under the tractor trailer. She had Marlboro cigarettes and $333 in cash at the time of her death, according to the missing persons database.

Police collected hair samples from the woman, but they were “insufficient for analysis” according to state police.

Aubele said the original investigation determined she was not a local resident.

Her remains were exhumed Monday morning from Oak Lawn Cemetery in Uniontown. Her tombstone was engraved with the year of her death, and the words, “God loves her.”

The woman’s remains were transported later that day to a facility at Indiana University of Pennsylvania where forensic anthropologists prepared DNA samples for entry into a DNA database

Investigators hope her DNA may match an existing profile from a missing person case.

“Investigators remain hopeful that the renewed efforts and advanced technology will help identify Jane Doe and bring long awaited closure to her family and loved ones,” state police said in a news release.